The Social Effect of the Social Fact
Throughout my life terms like “white savior complex,” or “hero syndrome,” have been thrown around in juxtaposition to the widespread messages of suffering that work to paint developing nations as inferior or incapable. This great war has continuously waged in my mind as I struggled to compartmentalize my compassion for helping others while rationalizing the fact that charity is not the clear cut answer to success. I think this documentary, Poverty, Inc., perfectly captured just how detrimental perpetual foreign aid can be for these emerging economies as in our pursuit of gaining recognition for providing assistance to those in “need” we end up harming these nations often leaving them worse off than before aid arrived. Although I did not grow up in Oklahoma, I think it is safe to say that a great deal of us participated in, donated to, or witnessed philanthropic activities throughout our primary and secondary educational careers most specifically in high school. The fact that we have been surrounded by incentivised philanthropy for a great deal of our lives either through competitive school fundraisers, church drives, or well intentioned brands asking to create a “wave of change” is what has led to the perpetuation of the “social fact,” concept that was first pontificated by French sociologist, Emile Durkhime. The explanation of the “social fact” concept helped to shed light on the systematic depth of this issue, helping me to realize just how perpetual the need to be consistently saving someone or something is in our society. At the end of the explanation of this social construct in this documentary they stated that the social fact leads us to all be complacent in knowing and accepting that this is “just how things are done.” I think this is how our society views these acts of aid, assistance, or charity; as we continually offer help to these developing nations we assume that it's our role in greater society to always offer help just as its their role to always accept help not knowing that it is actually our fault that these societies are facing the challenges they face. Not only is the social fact construct problematic for those living in developed nations as it allows us to paint ourselves as a superior society offering aid to those far less capable than us but it is equally problematic in developing nations as well. There is a lot to be said about the role of self perceived efficacy in our day to day lives but at a base level the goals that we aspire to have and the dreams we aspire to chase are all affected by our overall perception of self efficacy. I think one would be inherently wrong to suggest that continuously being fed the idea that you are weak and you are poor and you are helpless would have no effect whatsoever on your self efficacy. Continuing to funnel the idea that those receiving aid are in a far inferior position in life greatly limits belief in individual ability to achieve and if everyone has low self efficacy it is ultimately detrimental to society as you can not achieve societal greatness with a society full of people limiting their own belief in achievement. For those who watched this documentary and wondered why these societies continue to accept help when they know it's detrimental to their livelihoods maybe consider the fact that it may be tied to the overall societal perspective of efficacy. “No one wants to be a beggar for life. Poor people get a poor image.”
Knowledge in the Place of Understanding
As esteemed author Malcom Gladwell writes in his novel Blink, “The key to good decision making is not knowledge. It is understanding. We are swimming in the former. We are desperately lacking in the latter.” Malcolm Gladwell writes about several effects of social epidemics throughout his collection of works, most notably in his renowned novel, The Tipping Point, which examines the phenomena of creating a full blown social behavior. I believe this quote most exemplifies the overall concept of this documentary as governments, NGO’s, and corporations all have significant knowledge of the “issues” these countries are facing and how offering aid to others can be just as beneficial to them as well. However, with all this knowledge available to these large entities these individuals and issues are still met with a significant lack of understanding not only pertaining to the true root of the issue but to the culture of the people they are assisting as well. As these organizations step in to offer aid and call to the rest of the world to join them in their efforts, they spread false messages to the greater population through over exaggerated images of poverty, sickness or oppression through their donation campaigns which we misconstrue as understanding. Just as discussed with Toms, we as a society are led to believe that we have a deep understanding of a need and that by buying Toms we are able to fulfill a need in another nation, however in doing so we are actually perpetuating poverty by removing jobs and harming their economy. We believe we understand their situation but in reality we simply only possess knowledge of the situation. We do not have a background understanding of their culture, economy, or structure of their society. I think one of the best pieces of advice given in this documentary is when they suggested living in the communities you wish to help for a few years before you decide you understand their world. I appreciated the vastness of honesty throughout this documentary as several people admitted to having preconceived notions that were challenged once they truly took the time to get to know the people as humans, not simply as a piece of the issue they are trying to solve. As notable celebrities have mass photoshoots in developing nations acting as if they truly spent time with members of the local communities, we assume they have connected in ways far beyond what we are capable of doing, when in reality often their perception of the people in these communities is just as misconstrued as ours is. As we move towards a more globalized economy and society it is important to erase the narrative of being the heroes as we start to realize that we are aiding in nothing more than the erasure of their economy and social systems.